The application requests funding support for the Ninth International Workshop on Autoantibodies and Autoimmunity to be held September 29 to October 2, 2005 at the University of Florida Hilton Hotel Conference Center, in Gainesville, Florida, USA. This workshop series is held every two years throughout the world as an international gathering of academic and industry scientists with common interest in research on autoantibodies and autoimmunity. Previous conferences were held in Heidelberg, Germany (1989), San Diego, California (1991), Schloss Elmau, Germany (1993), Sydney, Australia (1995), Chapel Hill, North Carolina (1997), Oslo, Norway (1999), Awajishima, Japan (2001), and Berlin, Germany (2003). The most recent meeting in Berlin was attended by over 200 participants. The symposium is dedicated to the dissemination of the latest advances in autoantibody research and immunology and cell biology as related to the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of autoimmune diseases. It provides a forum for scientists in a variety of disciplines to present scientific research findings and share their expertise and insights. We expect worldwide participation of ~200 participants from US, Asia, Europe, and South America. The conference speakers will be scientists from a broad range of research areas. A significant proportion of the speakers will be chosen on the basis of submitted abstracts. Other data will be presented in poster sessions. This meeting will be widely publicized through advertisements in major journals as well as e-mail announcements to previous workshop participants and colleagues. The six focus topics are: biology of autoantigens in immune disease and cancer, biomarkers for autoimmune diseases, early diagnosis of organ-specific autoimmunity, genetics of autoimmunity, mechanisms and pathogenesis of autoantibody production, and immunotherapy of autoimmune diseases.